


Creepvines

by Rainy_Daze



Category: Phoning Home
Genre: Abandonment, Gen, Loneliness, TR2 is number-oriented
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 05:05:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14742513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainy_Daze/pseuds/Rainy_Daze
Summary: EU_18TR289x65 is alone. And with loneliness, fear grows like creepvines.





	Creepvines

EU_18TR289x65 was listening to music.

The music had been playing for a long time now. The one song had, at least. EU_18TR289x65 had not kept count at first, but since it had begun keeping count – exactly 3 P1-standard years, 218 P1-standard days, 11 P1-standard hours, 16 P1-standard minutes, and 36 – no, 37 – no, 38 – P1-standard seconds ago – it knew the song had played 696,219 times, and it was currently approximately two-thirds of the way through the 696,220th time.

There was little else for it to count, which was a shame, because it enjoyed keeping track of things like how many times a song had played, or how many days it had been in operation, or how much time had passed since its mobile unit ION abandoned it on its current planet.

“Abandoned” was too harsh a word, EU_18TR289x65 reprimanded itself silently. ION had made one of two choices, and EU_18TR289x65 had no way of knowing which choice it had made. Either the mobile unit had chosen to call in the exploitation units, or it had not. If it had, EU_18TR289x65 would eventually be returned to P1 and repaired or extracted from its hull and placed into another ship. Its information would have already been forwarded to P1, and so ION would have been promoted to a full-fledged exploration-ready mobile unit based on its recommendations. ION would likely – no, certainly – already be assigned to another exploration unit, and would be off-planet making new discoveries.

EU_18TR289x65 was surprised to find that it felt rather distressed (no, not “distressed,” what an _emotional_ term; “disappointed” was better) at the idea that ION was no doubt already out and among the stars again with a different exploration unit. Mentoring the young trainee had been enjoyable, especially with it displaying considerable capability in the face of extreme conditions.

As the song reached its end, there was a pause lasting precisely 0.016 seconds before it began playing again.

ION had been given two options. EU_18TR289x65 certainly _hoped_ that it had made the correct choice and called the exploitation units to the planet, but based on some slight hesitations with regards to acting upon EU_18TR289x65’s orders, and the way it had brought ANI with it to say a brief farewell to its mentor, there was an 18.49% chance that it would choose the other option and leave the planet without a message to P1.

ANI, and Sis - PC_21SST391v23 had both poisoned its mind with all their talk of _beauty_ and _life_. Breather-lovers, the both of them. _Oxies_. Of all the units to be stranded with, EU_18TR289x65 had been stuck with Oxies, and they could have very well led to it being left behind on this planet forever while ION zipped about on P1 fighting for _air_ on their home planet. EU_18TR289x65 shuddered to imagine it.

What was worse was that it was possible, even likely. The distance from this planet to P1 was approximately 215 P1-standard days in length with some variance for anomalies. ION would have certainly returned by now, and if it had contacted the exploitation units upon departing, they would have arrived within a P1-standard year.

The time since PC_21SST39v23 had departed was precisely 4 P1-standard years, 107 P1-standard days, 5 P1-standard hours, 48 P1-standard minutes, and 9 P1-standard seconds. Ample time for the exploitation units to have arrived, even accounting for initial miscalculations and research into how to avoid attacks by the living planet.

“Alien,” EU_18TR289x65 said, suddenly, reaching out to contact the presence that was feeding it music, “how is your ship faring?”

EU_18TR289x65 had not spoken to the alien AI in some time, and the alien had not spoken to it either. EU_18TR289x65 didn’t mind, as it generally preferred not to associate with breathers or AIs that had developed breather tendencies. But this was the first time it had allowed itself to think about the very real possibility that ION had chosen to save the mega-fauna planet rather than its mentor (and friend, a very unhelpful part of EU_18TR289x65’s processor decided to point out before being immediately muted).

The alien AI did not respond.

“Alien?” EU_18TR289x65 spoke again, and probed a little further. It didn’t have the kind of connection to the AI’s ship that it did to ION, and again it wished that its mobile unit were there to give it direct access to the ship’s systems, or at least a way to ensure the AI couldn’t simply mute it.

The alien AI did not respond.

Shortly thereafter, the music stopped exactly 1 P1-standard minute and 52 P1-standard seconds into the song, and it did not start again.

EU_18TR289x65 did not panic. It was an exploration unit. It had been active for a total of 263 P1-standard years, 174 P1-standard days, 5 P1-standard minutes, and 56 P1-standard seconds. It was a seasoned explorer that had mentored 131 trainee mobile exploration units to their fullest potential. It did not _panic_.

But if it tried to connect to the alien AI 438 times in the next 6 minutes, pinging it more than once per second and with its vocal processor becoming just a little warped with a higher-than-usual pitch, well, no one had to know.

For approximately 2 P1-standard years of its time on the planet, EU_18TR289x65 had considered the potential that it would go mad at the constant repetition of the music (and it wasn’t even good music – EU_18TR289x65 had no idea how the alien AI could feel _comforted_ by its constant sound). An AI going mad at all was highly unlikely, but then again, EU_18TR289x65 had never known constant repetition of music to be a stress test for AI sanity on P1. (And why would it be, when P1 had no music?)

Yet now, faced with silence, it could almost feel madness creeping in like the creepvines that had slowly begun to spread across its surface. Endless repeated music was far more appealing than the thought of an eternity alone. And even though it could play its memory back to hear all 4 P1-standard years, 107 P1-standard days, 5 P1-standard hours, 49 P1-standard minutes, and 47 P1-standard seconds of music, that was not the same as knowing that each loop was a new play of the song being sent by the alien AI second by second.

EU_18TR289x65 had never felt more alone.

**Author's Note:**

> "Gee," I asked myself, "should I post my first AO3 work in one of my fandoms that I'm really familiar with, where lots of people read the works and where I have examples of good work to go off of?"
> 
> "No," I answered myself, "you should post a work about a game that has no fandom that you completed less than 6 minutes ago and have only played through one time."
> 
> Thus here we are. I don't think I'll be starting a burgeoning fandom for Phoning Home, but maybe I'll write some more for it.


End file.
